A to Z Food Challenge: I

Ice cream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream.

That's right, for this week's food challenge I'm tackling the letter "I" and I've decided to use ice cream. Today was a particularly awesome day and worth celebrating a triumphant moment in my life, so we decided to make an incredibly delicious, super cheap, and amazingly easy ice cream pie! 

I got today's inspiration from my favorite, the "Nancy Drew Cookbook". The exact name for this recipe is called "Old Clock Ice Cream Pie", because it's based off of the book "The Old Clock". While I won't being taking Nancy's advise and creating a clock on the pie, I will be using the recipe to devour one of thee best pies I've ever eaten. Yes, it's THAT good. 

Of course I had to go to Trader Joe's and use this as an opportunity to also review two items that I've been dying to try. But before I get into the review, let's get into the recipe!

My pie is called "Cookie Butter and Joe Joe's Ice Cream Pie". Ok so it's a long name, point is it's freaking awesome and everyone should make it!

Ingredients: 
1 quart ice cream of your choice - I chose Cookie Butter ($4.49) 
24 cream-filled cookies - I chose Vanilla Joe Joe's (2.99) 
1 pie plate (I used one from the dollar tree for $1)
*if you're choosing to follow Nancy's recipe exactly, she chose vanilla ice cream, cream-filled chocolate cookies, and 1/2 cup of frozen fruit*

Directions:
1. Let the ice cream soften. If you're choosing to use frozen berries, allow them to soften as well and mix with the ice cream. 
2. Heat the oven to 350 degrees.
3. Crush the cookies until they are very fine. You can either use a rolling pin, a blender, or simply mash them in a bag like I did. Also, I didn't crush them extremely fine as I wanted a chunky crust. I'm not a fan of "flakey" crusts, so this was just my preference. Both methods work great.
4. Grease the pie plate, line with the cookie crumbs, and bake for 8 minutes. After it's done, take it out and let it cool completely. 
5. Fill the pie shell with the soften ice cream mixture and put the whole thing into the freezer until it's chilled thoroughly. (Roughly 1 to 2 hours)

Cut, serve, and enjoy!!!

It took me around 10 minutes to prepare - crunching cookies and baking the crust - and turned into about 8 slices after completely chilled. That's less than $9 for the whole pie, which comes to a little over $1 per slice! 

Now tell me that wasn't the easiest recipe you've ever heard of? Seriously I was impressed with how well this whole thing turned out! Especially since I left the cookie crumbs slightly chunky. To me it tasted even better. Also, this recipe can so easily be altered to suit your own cravings! My son and I both scarfed down our slices after dinner and went "ga-ga" over the creamy flavor. Which brings me to the important review portion of today's post!

First let's start with the Trader Joe's "Cookie Butter and Vanilla Ice Cream" ($4.49). I will admit that I have a cookie butter problem. I've tried every variation they have to offer in every form of consistency possible. I've used it on sandwiches, in smoothies, and on my ice cream. I've literally made myself sick from consuming WAY too much cookie butter. Which led me to taking a break from the phenomenon. 

Today was different. After having some fabulous news today, I whipped out my cookbook and scoured for the perfect dessert recipe. Seeing as how it was ice cream, I decided it would be perfect for today's challenge as well. I was going to do a dinner post, but this was more fitting for me. That's when it hit me. I hadn't tried the cookie butter ice cream yet. You better believe I got my son dressed in 10 seconds flat and ran to Trader Joe's. Ok so I drove, but I was speed walking to the ice cream section! 

This ice cream is dangerously good. It is vanilla bean with ribbons of smooth cookie butter spread throughout the ice cream, which allows for a burst of smooth decadent cookie butter flavors to overtake your taste buds. This ice cream is amazing. I want it every day and am going to have to force myself to cool it. I've already made a promise to myself to not buy it every chance I get. That's the real challenge here. Basically this is something I recommend WITH caution. You will get addicted. You will crave it. You will love it. You have be warned. 

For the crust portion of my pie, I chose to go with Trader Joe's "Joe Joe Vanilla Cream Cookies" ($2.99). I was a tad bit nervous buying these. I love Oreo's and I knew I could just buy the vanilla version and know the pie would be a success (I had massive doubts the ice cream would be a failure. It's cookie butter), but I wanted to try something new. I heard comments from fellow buyers that they were better than Oreo's and absolutely fantastic. Even with my hesitation, I bought them. I knew it could've ruined everything, but it didn't. 

These cookies are my new favorites. I won't be buying Oreo's anymore. Please forgive me oh once beloveds, for you are now an "ex" midnight snack. Goodbye forever. Hello Joe Joe's!!!

The vanilla cream feels and tastes authentic. It's rich, creamy, flavorful, and just the right amount of vanilla to perfectly combine with the crunchy yet soft cookie. The portions were absolutely well done and I felt like I was finally eating the cookie I deserved. I'm sorry, but this whole 'double stuff' crap wasn't exactly doing me any justice. If I'm going to indulge in a dessert, I prefer to do it right. This pack not only consists of proportionate cookies, but it comes with around 40 of them. Yes, yes, yes. Go buy these and thank me later! 

So in conclusion, this pie needs to be on your "to-do" list, the cookie butter ice cream is a must try WITH caution, and the cookies will replace your love for Oreo's, so eat at your own free will. All in all it's been a really good day and to end it with this dessert made it so much better.

Have a fantastic weekend everyone and I hope it's filled with delicious eats! Keep on rockin'